A much needed break

I finally had time to rest and heal. My hands took a beating the first day of actual work during the Memorial Day holiday. I should have had gloves on the whole time. The second day I did have gloves though and that made a huge difference. But the damage was done. I had scabs all over my knuckles. Worse yet, my shins took a beating from being on the ladder continuously. I needed to wear shin guards from a Soccer supply warehouse. I may yet buy some of them for any future work on the ladder.

Work had me going to a conference in Princeton NJ about 2 weeks after Memorial Day weekend. I knew the Grace Ice and Water Shield couldn’t stay exposed to the sun for 30 days. So I let the tar paper take the brunt of the punishment for the month of June. Roofing felt/tar paper was way less expensive than the rubber membrane. Throwing it away was an option as was wasting it altogether. Not a big deal. Better yet I had invested in the heavier roofing felt 30# versus 15# and hoped it would stand up to the sun and rain better.

I kept reading up on how to install the shingles and wrote up an outline of all the outstanding work needing to be done. That exercise was exhausting but it forced me to break things down into steps. I had to really analyze what order things needed to occur so I wouldn’t make mistakes and have to tear out anything after the fact. Especially when it came to the roof, there were many conflicting recommendations. There was a big difference between how the shingle manufacturer wanted drip edge installed versus how Grace Ice and Watershield wanted it installed. I gave greater emphasis to WR Grace because their product was protecting the roof deck. I didn’t want the roof deck to fail so they go first dibs on the installation procedure. Drip Edge was installed on TOP of the Grace Ice and Watershield at the raking edge and the eave edges. The shingle manufacturer and most DIY websites insisted that Drip Edge at the eave be installed underneath the roofing felt. I understood the advantage when considering how it would shed water. Ice and Watershield doesn’t have the same water shedding concerns.

The second big concern after Drip Edge was flashing for the intersection of the roof change on the left side raking edge. Should the flashing be woven into the shingles? A shingle, a flashing, a shingle a flashing nailed down in order would protect the edges of each shingle and still shed water at a critical junction. Another option was to nail the flashing flat as a continuous strip at the roof change and just lay all the shingles flat on top of that run of flashing. This option appealed to me more because ice would find it much harder to force itself in the joints between the flashing. With the flashing woven in with the shingles the ‘gap’ between each piece of flashing is larger. Weaving exposes the roof change to a much greater potential for ice and water forcing its way into the gap. The shingle manufacturer recommended nailing the flashing flat onto the roof at the roof change and overlapping each flashing by two inches.

A third concern was to install a little metal angle bracket at the end of the flashing to kick out any water a least an inch or two past the corner of the roof. This area is where the worst rot damage had occurred. I had a big interest in providing extra insurance against any water from running in between the roof deck and and the roof change. Was it necessary? Was it required, I don’t know but I kept thinking about it.